Just a few more O'ahu photos. What a beautiful island! And I did enjoy Waikiki a lot. I am not the Kalalau Kid any more, probably no more hikes for me, I liked never being cold or even cool, I liked jumping in warm (mehana) ocean (kai) for a swim. True, you can swim in Cali in the winter, but why put yourself through that? Only got rained out one day, spent that in the hotel room watching TV, but one people have gotten 10 straight days of rain. It is so easy to photo Hawai'i, it is the best subject. I'd find myself just lying on the beach, always in shade of course, just staring, just taking it all in: the placid blue azure green limpid translucent clear water, the sky, the clouds, the activity at sea including surfing, boating, canoeing, etc. Just staring. Hour after hour. We always knew Waikiki remained and remains an excellent beach regardless of the overpowering humanity and civilizing of the place, but I always enjoyed the show, always impressed by big buildings and enjoyed people watching and the mix of cultures which now includes Russians, Chinese, and Koreans as well as Hawaiians and Japanese. Saw a direct flight to Fukuoka listed on the flight board at the airport and thought of my kumu, wondered if he'd ever made it to Hawai'i, and what new languages he had mastered; when he was teaching me Hawaiian he was, I believe, simultaneously learning Thai an Portugese, it was a real stroke of luck running into him on the internet, to get professional quality language instruction in Hawaiian. But since Charlie got sick I haven't studied it or anything else much. Anyway, Waikiki was a blast. The hotel was basic but adequate, I had a room with a view of other hotels and the parking lot, but actually that was good because the exterior rooms, I learned, were noisy from the street plus the sports bar in front of which often lurked some rather dubious looking characters. A great discovery was a supermarket only a block away, so I didn't have to eat all my meals in restaurants. I loved the noodle house, there is a Japanese word for it, maybe I will find its picture.
